Kobe: "I Thought Finals Started Next Week"

"I thought the NBA Finals started next week," a chastened Kobe Bryant told a hastily assembled Boston news conference after the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics, four games to two.

"Nobody told me this was really the Finals," Bryant said, looking surprised and disappointed. "I thought these were just, you know, warm-up games, simulations, things that Phil organized to keep us sharp during the days until the Finals started. I never dreamt these were the actual Finals."

Bryant had hoped to win his first championship ring on a Lakers team of which he was the acknowledged leader, without the presence of fellow superstar Shaquille O'Neal.

When asked whether he recognized the Celtics, Kobe shook his head. "To be honest with you," he told reporters, "I thought they were my teammates, just wearing Celtics uniforms. They looked familiar, so I figured they were just the Lakers. I guess I should have paid more attention to who my teammates really were."

The Celtics' defense stifled Bryant, keeping him from "getting off" in the four games the Celtics won. "Man, they're tough," Bryant admitted. "But I thought that the guy playing Kevin Garnett was actually Lamar Odom. Turns out it really was Kevin Garnett."

Next year, Bryant said, if the Lakers return to the NBA Finals, he will get a team yearbook so he knows which of the players actually play for the Lakers. "Don't wanna get fooled again," Bryant said.

"Maybe in our preparation games we ought to play shirts and skins," Bryant suggested. "That's one way to tell our two teams apart."